Finishing machine for concrete slabs



July 15, 1952 A. E. MILLER ET AL 2,603,132

FINISHING MACHINE FOR CONCRETE SLABS Filed Aug. 20, 1945 4 Sheets-Sheet l 3 mam hows flrzkarEQ/Ililler, Rudolph ELz'ndow Samuel Shajer, J11,

July 15, 1952 A. E. MILLER ET AL FINISHING MACHINE FOR CONCRETE SLABS Filed Aug. 20, 1945 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 flrthuIE.,jl!z'ller, Rudolph ELl'udow and Samuel Jhqfer; J1:

July 15, 1 952 A. E. MILLER ET AL FINISHING MACHINE FOR CONCRETE SLABS Filed Aug. 20, 1945 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 H] w 53 g l ll- N M I July 15, 1952 A. E. MlLL ER ETAL 2,603,132

FINISHING MACHINE FOR CONCRETE SLABS Filed Aug. 20, 1945 '4 Sheets-Sheet 4- ,jYrihurEQ/llillr, RudolpklYLindow and Samuel kajer, e712,

Patented July 15, 1952 unwrap-smiles PATENT cmee i-rrnlsninoimornnn Fon CONCRETE SLABS- ..Arthur E..Miller, Milwaukee, Rudolph F..Lindow,' Waluwa'tosa, and Samuel Shafer, Jr., iMilwau- 'k'ee, 'Wi's., a'ssignors to Chain Belt Company, Milwaukee, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Application August 20, 1945,'Serial No.'611, 560

"The invention relates to machines -for iinishing concrete slabs, more particularly the slabs-oi concreteroads, and has {for its primary object the harm the principal one being thetendency Ofz-fil'lishing members so'disposed to minimize oreliminate ridges or undulations extendingtransversely of the road and thus produce a smoother riding surface. The ,present'invention'provides a machine of this character which is a self-contained power driven unit comprisinga frame arranged for travel upon the road forms and having a longitudinally disposed finishing member mounted thereon for rectilinear-travel back and forth across the road with its under face in smoothing or troweling engagement with the upper surface of the plastic concrete which has been deposited on the subgrade between the forms (forexample by a pavingcc-ncrete mixerland roughly brought to grade by manualor-other means.

The finishing member'is floatingly mounted for rising 'andfalling movement'sirela-tive to the main frame, and is guided in its traverse across the road by adjustable guides :or templates whereby either fiat or crown-surfaced slabs may be pro= duced. A series of angularlydispos'ed blades or vanes is provided at each side of the finishing member, which vanes are sopositioned that those at the leading side of the finishing member engage and roughly level the slab surface justin advance'of the finishing member, the angularity of the vanes being such as to tend toadvance any excess mixture {longitudinallyof the road in the direction of travelof the machine on the forms, i. e. toward an unfinished portion of the slab. The angularity of the blades is reversible so as to preserve these movementswhenthe di rection of travel of the machine .on the forms is reversed.

In one form, the finishing member in addition to being fioatingly mounted as above mentioned, is pivoted for swinging movementsabout anaxis transverse to .its path of travel on the frame, whereby it maybe canted to raise its leading edge and/r depress its trailing edge, to secure a better troweling effect; and means are provided for automatically reversing the tilt of the member as its direction of traverse across the road is reversed. This .changeo'fttilt is effected .when- .1 claim. (01. 94-45) '2 ever the traverse is reversed, whether the finishing. member has reached its ultimate limit of travelata form. V

.In another aspect, the nnisningzmember while still .floatingly mounted to enable it to. produce either flat or crownedtroads, is not arranged for the tilting movements ju'stmentioned, butinstead is equipped with a suitable vibrating device whereby rapid vibrations ofrelatively shortamplitude may be imparted to the member-landthrough it to the concrete. .As will appear more fully below, the tilting .form cl finis'hing member may also be equipped with sucha vibrating device, if desired.

above features-is illustratedlin the accompanying drawings forming .a part of this specification, whereinz.

Figure .1 is a top plan view of 'apreferredfform o'f themachine; L V

Fig. 2 'is a slightly .enlargedtransverse sectional .view on approximately the .plane indicated by the line 2-2 of Fig. ,1 looking in the direction of the arrows;

.Fig. 3 is .a enlarged plan view'of the finishin member and its associatedparts, "together with the carriage which supports'the same for traverse on the main frame; g

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view on approximately the planes indicated by the line 4-54 of Fig. 13, looking in the direction of thearrows;

Figs-5 and 6 are'vertical'sectional'views'at'right angles to Fig. 4, on the'p'lanes indicated "by'the lines 5-5 and 6-6 respectively *in'the "latter figure, looking in the directionsdndicated by the arrows;

Fig. '7 is a view similarto Fig. 5, showing the modified form of the 'inventionreferred 'to above and 4 Y -Fig. '8 is airagmentaryrsectional view, on approximately the plane indicated by the line 8-8 ofFig.7. V i

. Referring more t-particularlyi to .Figs. fi -.6, the machine comprises a- .=substantia1ly rectangular main frame H of 5a awidth lsufficientto span the distance between "the spaced ;parallel;road: forms l-2 which are positioned andcsecured upon "the prepared subgrade in the usual manner Ito ,define the lateral -.l-imits .of the -:road slab. At its respective ends the frame H -.is preferably. provided with extension frame: structures 13 -:and 1-4 which are rigidly yetreadilvdemountably -se-' cured to the .main frame, and carry the transverse shafts [5 and I6 upon-which aremounted the supporting .wheels or rollers lLand -181disposed to rest upon the forms .12. The purposaof the frame-extensions and His tosecurearelativelylong wheel base for the r-machine, .whereby the effect of longitudinal .inedual'ities jnthe forms may be minimized, while for purposes of ."irrespective' or A typical example .ofa machine embodying :the

transport to and from a job, the extensions may be removed and the foverall length of the machine thus materially reduced. At such times the wheels l1 and [8 are transferred from the shafts l5 and I6 to corresponding shafts l9 and 29 carried by the main frame H, asindicated in broken lines at the right of Fig. 1.

An internal combustion engine or other appropriate motor is mounted ina'housing 2| on the main frame II, and drives a jack shaft 22 through a chain and sprocket drive 23. The said jack shaft in turn drives a pair of manually controllable reversing-gear and clutch mechanisms 24 and 25, the first of which drives the shaft I9 through bevel gearing 26, and the second of which drives a longitudinally disposed countershaft 21 through a chain and sprocket drive 28. When the frame extension I3 is in place its shaft is driven from shaft l9 by a chain and sprocket drive 29, which .of course is removed when the frame extension is demounted for transport of the machine The main frame ll includes a ,pair of longitudinally spaced transversely extending channel members which constitute rails for engagement by the supporting wheels 3| of a carriage 32 which supports the finishing member.33 and its associated parts. The said carriage is traversed on the rails 30, back and forth across the main frame, by a chain driven by the countershaft 21. Adjacent each end of meet the rails 36, the main frame I l carries a pivoted arm 35 having a roller 36 disposed to be engaged by a portion of the carriage 32 as the latter approaches the limit of its traverse. Each arm 35 is connected throughlinkage 31 to a snap-action device 38 associated with the reversing gear mechanism 25 and arranged toact upon the control lever 39 thereof to shift its clutches to reverse the direction of the drive from jack shaft 22 through the chain and sprocket drive 28 and countershaft 21 to carriage traverse chain 34. The direction of travel of the carriage 32 on rails 30 is thus automatically reversed at each end of the carriage traverse, although such reversal may be accomplished at'fan'y point across the road through manual operation of the reversing gear control lever 39. p

The finishing member 33 comprises a channel disposed with its web downwardly and the under face of this web is preferably provided with a removable and renewable troweling plate or shoe 40. The finishing member and its associated parts are mounted on the carriage 32 as follows:

The carriage has secured to each of its ends a depending bracket or plate 4|, to each of which is pivotally secured an upper pair of links 42 and a lower pair of links 43. Vertically disposed bars or arms are pivotally connected-as at 45' and 46 tothe upper and lower sets of links respectively, and the lower ends of these bars are pivotally connected as at 41 to ears 48 and 49 rigidly carried by the finishing member 33. The ears 49 extendsomewhat above the said memher and are connected by a pin and slot connection 56 to the lower ends of the legs 5| of an inverted U-shaped lever 52, which legs are pivotally mounted on the pins 46 that connect the arms 44 to the links 43. The cross bar 53 of the said lever is provided with a lug 54 to which the carriage traversing chain is connected, as will be readily understood from Figs. 4 and 6. The said cross bar is also provided with a pair of upstanding projections 55 which are arranged to alternately 4 engage adjustable stops 56 and 51 carried. by the frame of the carriage 32..

The motion of the chain 34 is thus transmitted to the carriage 32 through the lever 52 and the stops 56 and 51. When the motion of the chain is toward the right, as viewed in Fig. 6, it will swing the lever on its pivots 46 to engage the projections 55 with the stops 56.and thereby draw the carriage toward the right. At the same time the lever, through its pin and slot connections 56 with the cars 49 of the finishing member 33, will swing the latter on its pivots 41 to slightly elevate its then leading (right hand) edge and/or depress its trailing (left hand) edge. When the direction of chain travel is reversed, either automatically or manually as above described, the lever 52 will be swung over to engage the stops 5! thereby reversing the carriage travel, and at the same time the connections 50 will reverse the cant of the finishing member, all as will be readily understood from the drawings.

The lower end portions of the vertical arms 44 are provided with lateral extensions 56 to which are welded or otherwise rigidly secured the angle members 59, disposed one to either side of the finishing member 33. Each of these angles carries a plurality of longitudinally spaced bearings 60 which journal the pintles 6| (Fig. 3) of a series of angularly adjustable blades or vanes 62,-the lower edges of which are positioned slightly above the plane of the lower face of the finishing member 33, see Figs. 5 and 6. Each pintle 6| rigidly carries an arm structure 63, the arms of each series being pivotally connected as at 64 to a longitudinal bar 65 whereby the arms, pintles and vanes may be actuated in unison. One pintle of each series is provided with an upward extension 66 which carries an arm 61, these arms being connected by a link 68 whereby the two series may be actuated simultaneously. One of the pintle extensions 66 is continued up to the top of the-carriage 32, where it is provided with a hand wheel 69 or other appropriate means of actuation, whereby the angular settings of the blades 62 may be adjusted and/or reversed.

When the machine is moving forwardly on the forms, 1. e. toward the right as viewed in Fig. 1, the blades 62 will be set substantially as shown in the drawings, at angles'of approximately 45 to the line of travel. As will be understood from Figs. 5 and 6, theseries of blades at the leading side of the finishing member 33 will engage and scrape oil? any high spots in the concrete and tend to move any such removed portions both laterally and forwardly of the road to fill in any low spots. Any excess not so used will be carried to the forms'where it will be left, upon reversal of the carriage traverse, for manual removal. Mere reversal of the carriage travel from side to side of the road will not necessitate any re-setting of the vanes, but should the direction of travel of the machine longitudinally of the road be reversed, the angularity of the blades should be reversed, which may be accomplished through manipulation of the hand wheel 69.

The non-rigid or floating suspension of the finishing member and its associated parts just described, provided by the links 42 and .43, is for the purpose of accommodating vertical movements of these parts whereby the machine may operate on crowned roads. These movements are automatically accomplished as follows:

' Forwardly and rearwardly of the carriage rails 3, the main frame I l is provided with adjustable or warpable track or guide structures 1!), spanning the frame from side to side. Each of these structures comprises a pair of vertically spaced flexible strips H and 12 the ends of which are seated in housings '13 carried by the frame H. The upper strip '1! is welded or otherwise rigidly secured to a plurality of spaced brackets 14 which are provided with shelves 15 on which the lower strip 12 rests. Beneath each bracket is an adjusting screw it carried by a transverse member 51 of the main frame. As will be readily understood, particularly from Fig. 2, by adjusting these several screws the guide structures 10 may be warped to correspond to any degree of crowning of a road, from zero up to the maximum for which the machine is designed.

A vertical hanger bar 1'3 is rigidly secured to each vertical arm 44 in parallel relation thereto, the attachment in this instance being by means of a plurality of bolts or studs 19 surrounded by spacing sleeves 8b. The lower ends of the bars 78 are pivotally attached at 8| to ears 82 secured to the finishing member 33, while the upper ends of the said bars carry rollers 83 disposed between the members H and 12 of the guide structures It, and rolling on the members 52. These members thus support the finishing member and its associated parts, and with the structures iii warped upwardly as shown in Fig. 2, as the carriage 32 is traversed back and forth on the rails 33, the said structures will cause the finishing member to gradually rise as it approaches the center of the road, and fall as it approaches the sides, according to the predetermined crown to be given the road.

The parallelogram mounting for the finishing member provided by the brackets 41' links 42 and 23, and the vertical arms 44, while accommodating the upward and downward movements of the finishing member, always preserves substantial perpendicularity of the said arms and prevents canting of the finishing member other than that intentionally provided by its pivotal mounting on its longitudinal axis and its connections with the swinging lever 52. Undue endwise movement of the member will be prevented by engagement of the suspending bars 18 with the adjacent frame members 11, as will be understood by reference to Fig. 4.

The operation of the machine will be clear from the foregoing, it being understood that it may be caused to travel along the forms l2 by the drive 23, 22, 24, 25, i9, 29 and I5, the direction of such travel being governed through manual shifting of the clutch devices of the reversing gear mechanism 24. During this travel the carriage 32 together with the finishing member 33 and blades or vanes 62 are traversed back and forth across the roadway with the finishing member in a tilted position which is automatically reversed with each reversal of the direction of carriage traverse. The mechanism should be so timed, of course, that the longitudinal travel during a traverse of the carriage in either direction is not greater than the length of the finishing member so as to insure working of all portions of the slab surface by the said member. During these movements the blades 62 roughly true up the surface just in advance of the finishing member by scraping off any high portions and moving them forwardly and laterally to fill in any low spots, with any excess being left at the side of the slab when the carriage reverses. If the longitudinal direction of travel of the machine be reversed, the angular set of the blades 62 is reversed by manipulation of the hand wheel 69, whereby to keep the excess material moving forwardly as regards the new direction of travel and thus prevent its being deposited on a surface which has just been worked over by the member 33.

In Figs. 7 and 8 there is illustrated a slight modification wherein the finishing member 33, instead of being pivotally attached to the vertical arms or bars 44 and 13 for canting movements whereby to elevate its leading edge, is rigidly attached to the lower ends of such arms, as by welding. In this case the said member carries one or more vibrating devices 84, of a conventional form, which may be driven through flexible shafting from a motor 86 mounted on the carriage 32. The devices 84 im art rapid vibrations to the member 33 which tend to compact the concrete as well as aid in finishing its surface. To reduce the transmission of such vibrations to the main frame of the machine, pads 87 of rubber or like material may be interposed between the bracket shelves '5 5 andthe supporting strip 52, and the rollers 33 may be provided with rubber or similar coverings 83, all as indicated in Fig. 8. Since the finishing member 33 is not canted, the lever 52 is omitted, and the chain 34 is attached directly to the carriage 32.

Obviously, the form of the invention shown in Figs. 1-6 may be equipped with vibrating devices similar to the devices 84, if so desired, as indicated in Fig. 2.

What is claimed is:

In a machine for finishing the surface of a concrete slab, the combination of a traversable frame provided with means for traversing the same a carriage structure; means horizontally reciprocably mounting said carriage structure on the frame; an elongated finishing member having a flat concrete-engaging under surface, disposed longitudinally of the frame and longitudinally pivotally mounted by the carriage structure for tiltingmovements transversely of itself whereby to elevate its leading edge above its trailing edge;

carriage-traversing mechanism mounted on the frame for reciprocating the carriage structure thereon; and a lever pivotally mounted by the carriage structure, having an arm connected to said carriage-traversing mechanism and being alternatively engageable with portions of the carriage structure whereby to transmit motion thereto from said traversing mechanism, said lever also having another arm connected to said finishing member eccentrically of the pivot of the latter, whereby reversals of said traversing mechanism will swing the finishing member about said pivot and alternately dispose its concrete-engaging surface in reverse angular relationships to the horizontal.

ARTHUR E. MILLER.

RUDOLPH F. LINDOW.

SAMUEL SHAFER, JR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 967,714 Blome Aug. 16, 1910 1,467,243 Fitzgerald Sept. 4, 1923 1,533,464 Robb Apr. 14, 1925 2,038,416 Clifford Apr. 21, 1936 2,334,717 Long Nov. 23, 1943 

